Zhang Zhihe

Zhang Zhihe (ca. 730 - ca. 810), style name Zitong, was from Jinhua, about 150 upriver southeast of Hangzhou.³ He served for a while at the Hanlin Academy in Chang'an, the capital, then was sent away to manage affairs in Nanpu, near Wanxian in the Yangzi river gorges.⁴ After this he was pardoned and allowed to return,⁵ after which he became a recluse among rivers and lakes, calling himself Fishing Disciple Midst Mists and Waves and Obscure Reality.⁶ He was a good lyricist, wrote about the leisurely life, and was a calligrapher, percussionist and flute player. His existing poems include five on the theme Old Fisherman.⁷

His connections to qin melodies include the following.

He Wu Dongtian
One story tells of Zhang Zhihe drunkenly riding off on a crane.⁸
Zui Yu Chang Wan
"As good as the poem by Zhang Zhihe mentioning Xisai mountains."
Yu Ge
He wrote poems on the theme of fishing.
Chunjiang Wan Tiao (Zha Guide 19/183/--)
"Zhang Zhihe fished without bait, saying his aims were not in the fish. He applied his oars on the Chun River (short for Fuchun River, not far from his birthplace?). 寓其悠然自適之趣云 He dwelt in his distant and detached interests."

More to be added ()

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 張志和 Bio/1277 婺州金華人，字子同，初名龜齡 Zhang Zhihe, from Jinhua in Wuzhou (on the 浦陽 Puyang River about 150km southwest of Hangzhou), style name Zitong, was originally called Guiling.... His poems include 漁父，五首 five called Old Fisherman. (Return)

2 This image is from an illustrated Ming dynasty Liexian Quanzhuan, which developed out of the Han dynasty Liexian Zhuan. (Return)

3 Not far from the 富春江 Fuchun River (Return)

4 坐事貶南浦尉 to manage affairs sent away (bian) to Nanpu Wei; near modern 萬縣 Wanxian (Return)

5 赦還 (Return)

6 自號煙波釣徒，又號玄真 (Return)

7 His five 漁父歌 Yu Fu Ge are included in YFSJ, p. 1170; 1, 4 and 5 are translated in Sunflower Splendor, pp.155/6. Number 1 mentions 西塞山 Xisai Mountain below Taihu Lake; #2 mentions a 釣臺 fishing terrace and the Yangzi River; #2 mentions Zha Creek (霅溪 43238.6 水名，吳興縣治南), south of Taihu Lake; #4 mentions 宋江 Song River east of Taihu Lake; #5 mentions 巴陵 Baling (Yueyang, by Dongting lake in Hunan). (Return)

8 Van Gulik, Lore, p.143, relates this story about Zhang Zhihe from the 青蓮舫琴雅 Qinglianfang Qinya by 林有麟 Lin Youlin. (Return)

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